Unraveling
by LostGetFound
Summary: Lately, Lily feels like her entire life is falling apart at the seams. Between her parents, the pressures of school, and even Severus, it's all too much sometimes. And when she's feeling this low, who can make her feel better but a certain dark-haired Gryffindor? Read and find out why Lily Evans finally said yes to James Potter.


**Okay, I've never written a Lily/James fic before, and I have no idea why I just wrote this one. I haven't written anything in months and when I sat down to write, this just came out. Haven't decided what I think of it yet, but I hope you find it a little touching and a lot cute. Read and tell me what you think. :)**

"I don't care what they say, Severus." Lily Evans snapped frustratedly to the dark haired boy standing in front of her. "You shouldn't hang out with them!"

"You don't even know them!" Severus snapped back.

"I don't have to." Lily scowled. "I've heard enough complaints about them from Gryffindors and Slytherins alike. Do you not remember what Mulciber did to that poor girl? That was Dark Magic, Sev. He shouldn't even know _how_ to do curses like that."

"It was only—"

"If you're about to say it was only a joke, I don't want to hear it." She hissed. "She could have _died_, Severus. Even you should know that what he did was despicable."

"Even me?" He tried to hide it but Lily could see how much her words hurt him. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You know exactly what it means." She was furious now and she knew she would regret it later, but the words that she had held in for so long were pouring out of her and it was too late to stop them. "You're different lately, Severus. Mean. Half of the time it's like I don't even know you anymore."

"I'm not going to give up the only friends I've ever had just because you think—"

"The only friends you've ever had?" Lily demanded, her bright eyes flashing angrily. "So I guess our friendship doesn't mean anything to you?"

"No, that wasn't what I—" The boy hurriedly tried to correct himself. "You're my best friend, Lily. You mean the world to me."

Taking a deep breath and tossing her long hair over her shoulder, Lily let out a sigh. "I know, Sev. I know. But the question is: is that going to be enough?" Ignoring the sudden, almost desperate look on his face, she turned and strode away.

As she walked away from the only person she had ever trusted completely, Lily found herself growing more and more frustrated. It was night time and the halls were abandoned, but she was too distracted to notice. She wandered around in circles, from one end of the castle to the other. But the longer she walked, the more she began to realize that she had nowhere to go.

Normally, if she had a problem, she came running to Severus. Sure, she had female friends, but none of them understood her relationship with the greasy-haired Slytherin. They didn't know that beneath his off-putting exterior was a kind heart and a witty mind.

Without thinking about it, Lily pushed open a small side door and let herself out of the castle and into the surrounding blackness of the night.

As the door slammed shut behind her, she was thrust in to complete darkness. She pulled her wand from her pocket and muttered, "Lumos," before setting off onto the trails surrounding the magnificent English castle.

Eventually, she found herself standing on the banks of the Black Lake. With a frustrated sigh, she extinguished the light from her wand and collapsed onto the ground against a nearby tree, her mind never once leaving the problem at hand.

Over the last few months, Severus had gotten involved with a group of Slytherins that everyone knew were bad news. She was sure that on some level, Severus himself knew it. But every time she tried to convince him, he would cling even closer to them.

Lily knew that they used Dark Magic to curse and maim innocent students. Their supporters outside of Hogwarts were even worse. News of suspicious deaths and outright murders was beginning to spread. And where worry started, panic was sure to follow.

Of course, thoughts of death immediately made Lily think of her own parents, lost to her forever because of a simple muggle car accident. She was in the car when it happened, the sudden, violent crash etched forever in her mind.

Their bodies so bloody… the accident so traumatic… the memories haunted her every night. Severus knew that. He knew how horrible death could be. And still he chose to support those twisted fools.

The thought was heartbreaking.

The worry and anxiety of the past month reached a sudden peak and before she knew what was happening, Lily found herself sobbing hysterically. Alone in the dark, she cried for her family for her friends and for her life that was changing to quickly to go back to the way it once was. Tears coated her face and sobs wracked her body as countless minutes flew by.

And still she cried.

"Lily. Lily, darling." A voice called softly from above her. "Shhhh, don't worry. It's all going to be okay."

She sobbed harder. Great, she thought. Now on top of the mess her life had become, she was hearing voices. Going insane painfully and bloody slowly.

It wasn't until a pair of warm, strong arms wrapped around her that she realized she hadn't imagined the voice at all. There really was someone alone in the dark with her. The knowledge made her start to fight his hold. She struggled against her captor, but he held on firmly.

"Lily flower," the boy said soothingly. "Did it never occur to you that you're a witch? If you wanted me to let go of you, you could just curse me into oblivion." He leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially. "I hear you're quite good at that."

"James!" She shrieked, jumping nearly a meter into the air. It was a voice she would recognize anywhere as the owner of said voice used it torture her every day. Or "flatter" her, as he liked to call it.

"Don't call me that." She snapped, hating the nasally sound of her voice and the way her tears were still falling. She shrugged his arms off of her and scooting a good distance away so that she could no longer feel his big, male body pressed up against hers. She was tempted to jump to her feet and make a run for it while she still could. James Potter was the last person she wanted to see right now. Er, second to last. At the moment, Severus beat him out for that spot.

She even started to clamber to her feet.

But something about the look on his face in the moonlight held her there. He looked soft and concerned and completely unlike his usual arrogant self.

"Well, what am I supposed to call you then?" He teased. He leaned comfortably back against the tree and ran a hand through his ink black hair, messing it up even more than it already was. "Lily dearest? Love? Light of my life?"

She snorted through her tears.

The noise made James want to laugh. For some reason, he wasn't at all surprised that Lily could make even inelegant noises sound attractive.

"How about just Lily?" She suggested. "Or Evans? Whatever happened to that?"

James smile cheekily. "I fell in love."

Her reluctant smile disappeared and once again, she was scowling. She hated when he did that. He would taunt and tease and embarrass her until she couldn't take anymore and then, to top it all off, he'd declare his undying love. Arrogant toerag.

"Why are you here?" She asked sullenly, wiping the few remaining tears from her eyes. To her embarrassment, she sounded like she had been bawling for the past half hour. She had, of course, but that was completely irrelevant.

"Here," James said softly. He held up an embroidered handkerchief that she took reluctantly. She blew her nose all over his lovely handkerchief and went to hand it back to him. He gave her a look and she shrugged a little ruefully before tucking the soiled object into her robes.

"You didn't answer my question." She insisted.

James shrugged, looking completely unruffled by her tears. "You really want to know?" He asked. A boyish smile spread over his face as he smiled down at her. "Because Heaven didn't want me and You-Know-What's afraid I'll take over."

She snorted again. "You probably would." She agreed.

"Oh, I'm wounded, Miss Evans." Potter appeared grievously wounded, even holding a hand to his heart for effect. "I'll have you know I'm a perfect angel."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm sure. The horns are just there to keep the halo up, right?"

"Now you're catching on." He grinned.

Lily felt another reluctant smile steal across her face as she realized that in a matter of mere minutes, the boy in front of her had completely distracted her from her mess of a life. His juvenile jokes even had her laughing.

And the soft way he was smiling down at her made her shiver a little inside. The two of them were sitting too close for comfort, both leaning back against the large tree behind them. Everything they could see was covered in the soft glow of moonlight that faintly lit up the night sky. The light reflected off of the lake in front of them causing the dark waters to shimmer. The overall atmosphere was one of peace, solitude, and surprisingly, romance.

And the boy in front of her… for the first time, Lily found herself thinking of James as more than just an arrogant git. She studied him pensively, noticing the way the sharpness of his cheekbones contrasted with the soft colors of his eyes and the way his hair, as usual, made him look like he had just stepped off of a broom.

Maybe it was just the way he had attempted to hold her and dry her tears or maybe it was the heady feeling of breaking the rules by being out at night with a boy, but whatever the reason was, Lily suddenly found herself drawn to him.

"Why are you really here?" Lily asked again, any trace of malice in her voice gone with this new realization.

James shifted uncomfortably. "I, um, kind of overheard your argument with Snape. I was worried about you, so I followed you to see if you were alright."

"Oh." Lily couldn't keep the surprise from her voice. Who knew that James Potter was such a softie? Or did he have another angle here? She eyed him suspiciously.

"Really, Lily," he said, catching the look. "I know that I've been somewhat of a tosser the past few months..." She gave him a pointed look. "Okay, the past few years. But despite what you may believe, I'm not a bad person." He looked so sincere, so eager to win her good opinion that she didn't have the heart to scoff. "I truly care about you."

While she was inclined to believe him, she had no way of knowing whether or not he would go right back to being the over-confident arse he had been before. So she said nothing.

"Do you want to talk about it?" James asked as the silence stretched between them.

She shook her head.

He looked disappointed but covered it so quickly she wondered if she was just seeing things. "Want to hear a secret?" He asked instead.

She studied him for a moment before deciding. "Sure. I'll bite."

"I had a sister once. A baby sister."

At first, Lily didn't know whether or not to believe him. Everyone at Hogwarts knew the Potters. They were an old pureblood family, rich but without the snobbery of the Slytherins. Surely, James' parents, a notorious couple who were well on in years had had another child, even a muggle-born like Lily would know.

But James didn't even notice her alarmed look. He was too busy staring pensively at the lake in front of them. "Her name was Brie and she was the cutest thing you've ever seen. Even more adorable than you, Evans." He did look at her then, but only for a moment. Then he looked away, out at the lake once again.

The sudden change that had come over him left Lily shocked.

His body was tense beside her and she could sense the turmoil that reliving these memories was causing him. She had a feeling that she was seeing a rare event, a side of James Potter no one else had ever known.

"What happened to her?" Lily wondered aloud, her voice barely more than a whisper.

"She died." He ground out harshly. "She was only three, but she was in an accident. A horrible, tragic accident. And whenever I think of her… of what she would have become…" He closed his eyes tightly against the memory, obviously trying to hold back the flood of feelings. "I cried," he admitted. "For weeks after her… after she was gone. Months, even. And I miss her every day."

Almost involuntarily, Lily found herself reaching for him, holding him in her arms much the same way he had tried to do with her earlier. "I'm okay," he promised. But he let her wrap her arms around him anyway. "I just… I want you to know that it's okay to fall apart. Crying and grieving are only natural. I know it's been hard for you, what with your parents and now that stupid Slytherin, but I just want you to know that you'll be okay."

He reached up to push a wayward strand of hair off of her face and stared deeply into her brilliant green eyes. "And if not, well, we can always fall apart together."

Lily was so touched she almost kissed him then and there. But just as she was about to cover that small space between their lips, she realized something. James knew about her parents. Her muggle parents, of whom she had only told a grand total of four classmates. "James…" She started unsure if now was the right time to mention this.

But he seemed to have forgotten that he was losing it only a few minutes ago. James Potter, with his arms wrapped around the girl of his dreams, had noticed something awe-inspiring. And he was now focusing on it completely. Namely, her mouth. Her face was temptingly close to his and her lips… well, he could practically taste them. All he could think about was covering that small distance and…

"James!"

He jerked backwards and fumbled over himself to apologize. "Sorry, I was just… er…"

"No, it's alright." She said. In the stillness of the night, their past was forgotten, but that didn't mean she wasn't glad that the darkness hid the blush that covered her face. "I just wanted an answer to my question."

"You asked a question?" James queried sheepishly.

Lily rolled her eyes, but inwardly wanted to laugh because they were back on comfortable ground again. "Yes. I asked how you knew about my parents."

"Oh, that." James sighed. "You can't blame a bloke for hoping you were asking a completely different type of question."

"Actually," Lily pointed out dryly, "I can."

He shrugged offhandedly. "In case you haven't noticed, Lily dearest, I use entire free periods to plot ways to get closer to you." He looked a little sheepish as he added, "I pay attention. I probably know more about you than even greasy little Snivellus Snape does."

"That's extremely creepy." Lily frowned, realizing for the first time that he just might be serious about this whole "love of my life" business. Then again, it was James Potter they were talking about here. So, probably not.

"Oh, so now true love is extremely creepy?" James gave her a knowing look that made Lily shift uncomfortably. It was almost as if he could read her mind.

"If the shoe fits," she told him.

"Shoe?" He asked curiously. "Of course my shoes fit, but what does that have to do with anything?"

Lily had to hold back a laugh at his confusion. As a pureblood wizard, James had no knowledge of everyday muggle sayings. "Oh, nothing." She assured him, grinning at her own little inside joke. "It's just a muggle way of saying you're a creepy stalker."

"Ha ha, Evans. Fine. Be that way. But when you realize that you love me too, it might just be too late." He leaned in close to her once again and enjoyed the way her body seemed to bend towards his without her even noticing it. "Then again, you may already know and just be in denial…" He trailed off, eyeing her lips once again like he was entranced.

"Ha," she laughed skeptically. "I'm not the one in denial."

"Oh no?" his face was inching steadily closer to hers by the minute and he was hoping she didn't notice until it was too late. "And what is it that you believe I'm in denial about?"

"Your sanity, of course."

"Well, denial is a nice place," he told her lightly. "And since we're both there… oh look, that's something else we have in common."

She gave him a dubious look. "We don't have anything else in common, Potter."

James had to resist the urge to tease her by telling her that one day she too would be a Potter. "I beg to differ," he informed her. "Just look at our Patronus forms."

"Our what?"

Lily looked so confused that James had to chuckle. "Patronus." He repeated. "You know? The spell that wards off soulless little buggers called Dementors."

She scowled at him, but he looked entirely unfazed. He was on the receiving end of that scowl too often to be bothered by it anymore. Actually, truth be told, he found her fury bloody hot most of the time.

"I know the spell, Potter," she retorted. "I just don't know what you mean."

"Well…" He said, sounding out the word like he was talking to a child. "Your patronus is a doe, correct?" She gave a reluctant nod, no longer surprised that he would have such intimate knowledge of her. "Give you two guesses what mine is. The second doesn't count."

She racked her brain for what he could possibly have deluded himself into connecting with a doe. The only thing that came to mind made her frown distastefully.

"It isn't…" she narrowed her eyes.

"It is." He replied gleefully. He was enjoying this entirely too much. "It's a stag. See? We were meant to be. "

"We weren't—"

"Oh, look there you go." He continued blithely. "Off to denial again."

"I'm not—" She tried again.

James found her rush of anger thrilling. She was starting to get annoyed and when she got annoyed she was sure to start shouting. When she shouted, her face got red and she looked so... well, he didn't really have words to describe the look that made his blood heat with desire. Just thinking about it got him hot and bothered.

Before he thought it through, his body had covered the scant distance between them and he was pulling her into her arms.

"James…" She said warily. "What are you doing?"

"This." He said simply.

He leaned down to cover her mouth with his.

As his face neared hers, Lily's first instinct was to jerk away and run screaming. But the second their lips met, she felt heat rush through her veins. She could deny it all she wanted, but she was attracted to James in a way entirely too physical to be healthy.

She was frozen. His fingers tangled into her hair and hers dug into his shoulders as she held on for dear life.

James' kiss was sweet, soft, and surprising. Almost as quickly as it had started, it was over.

"You're beautiful." He whispered in her ear. "So innocent and untouched yet seductive at the same time. And you don't even know it."

She opened her mouth to speak and then closed it again abruptly. A thousand thoughts were running through her head, each completely different from the others. She should slap him, one said. No, she should pull him down by his tie and make him do that over and over again, another urged. No, a third insisted. She should run. _Fast._

"I'm going to go before you snap out of this and decide to hex me into next week." James announced, interrupting her jumble of thoughts. "But remember what I said, Lily dearest."

She knew without asking that he was now speaking of the secrets, both spoken and unspoken, that they had shared earlier in the night. He turned to go, then seemed to think better of it.

"Oh, and Lily?" He asked mischievously, sounding like the James Potter she knew for the first time that night. "If you tell anyone else about this, I'll be forced to kill you. I have a reputation to uphold."

As if her voice was affected by his proximity, the second he stepped away, it returned.

"I'll see to it that your reputation isn't tarnished," She replied dryly.

He ran a hand through his already messy hair, ruffling it up even more. "Thanks, love." He grinned and turned to go.

"James?" She called to his receding figure.

"What?" His ever-present grin did funny things to her heart. It made her want to smile in return, call him back, even kiss him again.

She shocked both him and herself with what she said next.

"Don't give up just yet."

For a second, Lily wanted to take the words back, but she knew that it was too late. The idea of being with James Potter suddenly didn't sound nearly as preposterous as it had been only hours ago. She couldn't take the words back now. More than that, she didn't want to.

She was content to sit in the peace of the night and watch James' receding figure head towards the castle. For the first time, he was the one walking away. But she didn't have a problem with that because if she knew anything about James Potter, it was this: he would be back.

Those five little words stuck with James. For the next three weeks, they wouldn't leave his head or his heart. Neither of them knew it yet, but less than a month later, James would ask her out one more time. He'd make it romantic and sweet and utterly the opposite of everything she used to believe he was.

And despite her misgivings, she would say yes. Years later, she would look back and never once regret it.

Because they were meant to be.

**Yes, yes. I know James doesn't have a sister in the books and I don't remember if it says how Lily's parents died, but I thought my version fit quite well. I took a few creative liberties, but isn't that what fanfiction is all about?  
**

**So… what do you think? Too cheesy? Too boring? Or just right?  
**


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